Daily Content Archive

(as of Saturday, October 19, 2019)
Word of the Day

ragbag

Definition:(noun) A motley assortment of things.
Synonyms:farrago, gallimaufry, hodgepodge, melange, mishmash, mingle-mangle, oddments, omnium-gatherum
Usage: The bottom drawer of the teacher's desk contained a ragbag of confiscated items ranging from comic books to false teeth.
Daily Grammar Lesson

Joining Coordinate Adjectives

When we use multiple adjectives to describe the same noun, we may or may not use commas between them, depending on how the adjectives function together. In general, we do use commas between coordinate adjectives. What are coordinate adjectives? More...
Article of the Day

Chulalongkorn

Chulalongkorn was the king of Siam—now Thailand—from 1868 to 1910. Educated in part by a British governess, Anna Leonowens, he greatly advanced the Westernization that was begun by his father, King Mongkut. He departed from tradition by traveling abroad—to Singapore, Java, and India in 1871 and to Europe in 1897. He abolished slavery and introduced numerous reforms, which, along with his foreign policy, kept Siam from being colonized for decades. How many children did Chulalongkorn have? More...
This Day in History

Streptomycin Is First Isolated (1943)

After coining the word "antibiotic" for bacteria-killing chemicals derived from micro-organisms, American microbiologist Selman A. Waksman, working with Albert Schatz, isolated streptomycin—the fourth antibiotic ever discovered. Waksman won the 1952 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery. Streptomycin acts by inhibiting protein synthesis and damaging cell membranes. Produced by soil bacteria, it was the first specific agent effective in the treatment of what disease? More...
Today's Birthday

Salimuzzaman Siddiqui (1897)

Siddiqui was a leading Pakistani scientist credited with the isolation of unique chemical compounds from various South Asian plants, particularly the neem tree. The extracts of this tree, a broad-leaved evergreen native to India and Myanmar, have been used for centuries in Asia as pesticides, medicines, and health tonics. In the 21st century, knowledge of the neem tree spread to the West, where it has been hailed as a "wonder plant," largely due to the work of Siddiqui, who discovered what else? More...
Quotation of the Day
Human nature is so well disposed towards those who are in interesting situations, that a young person, who either marries or dies, is sure of being kindly spoken of.

Jane Austen (1775-1817)

Idiom of the Day

heat wave

A period of time in which the weather is unusually and persistently hot. More...
Today's Holiday

Yorktown Day (2023)

On October 19, 1781, Lord Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington's Allied troops at Yorktown, Virginia. The Battle of Yorktown is widely considered to mark the end of the Revolutionary War. Yorktown Day activities held at the Colonial National Historical Park in Yorktown include a commemorative placing of a wreath at the French Monument and the Monument to Alliance and Victory. There are also 18th-century tactical demonstrations, a parade of military and civilian units, and musical presentations by fife and drum units. More...
Word Trivia

Today's topic: rude

cullion - A rude, mean-spirited person. More...

bronco - Spanish for "rough, rude." More...

erudite - Meaning "having or showing knowledge," it traces to Latin eruditus/erudire, "bring out of an untrained state," with the base being rudis, "untrained; rude." More...

hoyden - Can be applied to rude, ignorant people. More...

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